Seven Women
by jespah
Summary: One second of time on November 21st, 2234. Jay Hayes's Mirror counterpart, Doug, fathered five children. This is a moment from the life of one of them.
1. Chapter 1 - Melissa Madden

Seven Women

 _One second of time on November 21st, 2234._

Melissa Madden

 _They say your life flashes before your eyes in the final seconds before you die._

While I don't dispute that, what's really happening is that I'm thinking of seven women, and what they've all meant to me over the years. But I'll explain, quickly, hell, _everything's_ gotta be quick. I can see that fireball coming, and it's got my name on it. I won't get outta this one.

My name is Thomas Digiorno-Madden, but I've been called Tommy forever, even though I'm a Lieutenant Commander and I am seventy-three. But that fireball, yeah, the fireball. I see and feel it coming. And the memories are flooding into my brain as the last of the oxygen feeds the flames.

The first woman I ever knew was my mother, of course. Melissa Madden. She was a pilot for Jonathan Archer, back in the day. She never married my Dad; he had a wife and that was open and all that that entails. She loved him fiercely and he wasn't her only love, either.

I remember her eyes being as big as saucers, dark brown. She lived with her lover for as long as I knew, and that was her other fierce love. I am her first-born of three. Neil will be the last of us; Kevin died first, but he was an infant. I'm rambling, I know. Cut me some slack; I'm about to die, yanno.

She lost it all in the last years before her death. I would come home to Lafa II, on leave, and would see her, and she was slipping further and further into the dementia hell that is Irumodic Syndrome. In the end, she called me and Neil and our older half-brother, Joss, well, she called us all by our Dad's name, which was Doug.

Used to go to his house, from our apartment, and he was the kinda father who would teach you to fish or drive, and he would pretend not to be sentimental but he still was, when you weren't looking. Joss looks the most like Dad, but I am the most like him. I'm a soldier, like he was. If he were still around, if the old man were still alive, he would, I think, be proud of me today. For you see, my taking this fireball means that other people won't.

That fire door is sealed shut. There is no getting out of this one. And so I remember my mother, the first of the seven women, on this, my dying day.


	2. Chapter 2 - Leonora Digiorno

Leonora Digiorno

The second woman I am thinking of right now, in my final moments, is Leonora – _Norri_ – Digiorno. Norri and my mother were lovers forever, or so it seemed. Norri was always bookish; my earlier memories are of her either in grad school to get her doctorate in English Literature or her sitting at her desk at home, in the apartment, frustrated, as she was trying to write a book.

She finally wrote it, it's called _The Human Pioneers of Lafa II_ and it's a decent reference work so check it out the next time you're at the library, okay?

I remember her reading to me, and how thrilled she was when I started reading, too. I remember her smiling at me. She was a redhead in the earlier days, and she had this sprinkling of freckles on her nose and when she laughed you'd see the freckles moving and it was amusing and magical, all at the same time.

One day when I was three, I walked in on them. They were, well, I won't draw you a map, but they were engaged in lesbian lovemaking. And here I was, utterly oblivious. They got me out of the room, as I'm sure I was staring something fierce, and they got dressed and sat me down and plied me with tofflin juice and we talked a little about what I'd walked in on. I didn't really understand it until later but I did learn that they made each other smile and I knew that that was the greatest thing.

Norri was the first woman I ever had a crush on, and that was despite everything else. So I dunno, is that incestuous? She legally adopted me and Neil; she was my mother as much as Melissa Madden was. But Norri, she always kept a part of herself separate. There was always some sort of a dividing wall with Norri. I think she wanted to hold onto her own secret places. I dunno.

When she died at the Med Center, we were all there and Declan Reed, my other half-brother, he was there with Rebecca Shapiro for the first time, and I remember hearing Norri saying something about seeing my mother, and my brother, Kevin, and a bridge, too, as she left this world for the next.

I guess that's who I'm talking to. I know you, my audience. I can see you now. I know you're an illusion. Kevin, I know you are. You're too old, for starters; you weren't even a month old when you went – and you already know that, I'm sure. But that's okay; I'm gonna talk to you and explain things, just the same, even though you might already know all this, I'm guessing. It's all I can do with the time I've got left.


	3. Chapter 3 - Cindy Morgan

Cindy Morgan

My first-ever girlfriend was Cindy Morgan.

Joss was always with Jia Sulu; they went to Prom together and got married. While it was really nice it was also kinda – they waited _that_ long? Because they were always together, even when we were kids, so it was like they were married even when they were in elementary together.

See, on Lafa II, there weren't a lotta humans. There are a lot more now. But at the time, we had like a one-room schoolhouse. We were put together; the Calafans thought we'd like it better that way. Cindy was there as her parents were having problems, so she was living with her grandfather, old Doc Morgan. Her parents had kinda bugged out, but her cousin was a lot older than her and came to Lafa II to live and that woman was this bombshell named Pamela Hudson. My second crush after Norri.

But I digress, Kevin. I wanna talk about Cindy, even though we lost contact years ago. I have no idea where she is now.

We were in school together, and we'd go behind the buildings and, when we were little, we'd hold hands, and we thought that meant we were married. I remember thinking that was kind of anticlimactic, even though I had no idea what that word meant at the time.

Then when we got older, that turned into kissing. After I'd caught my mother and Norri in the sack together, I got it in my head that I would kiss Cindy. So we did our usual behind the buildings bit, but this time I leaned over and all of that. She ran away and told everyone in our school that I'd made it so that she would have a baby. That's amusing now, but at the time it was kinda overwhelming.

Everybody teased me about that for years. Things were okay – we dated for most of our school years. But it wasn't innocent like at the start. We lost our virginity to each other when we were teenagers, but didn't stay together.

I'm jumping around again. Lemme tell you about our school days.

We went to Prom together. The Calafans put on a pretty nice Prom, though they'd never done that before. Dad was still alive then. Calafan girls are all bald at that age, so Cindy and Jia were always easy to spot. We double-dated, with Joss, of course. It's not like I took both of them, okay? Joss and Jia'd already graduated, but they returned for another go-'round at Prom. Joss knew that me and Cindy, we weren't meant to be, like him and Jia. I think he was being the big brother and protecting me from disappointment, or maybe just from having to make small talk. I dunno anymore.

Calafan dances are too fast. Were you somehow watching us, Kevin? It's kinda comforting to think that somehow, maybe, you were.

I only stepped on Cindy's foot once.

Okay, four times.


	4. Chapter 4 - Takara Sato Masterson Tucker

Takara Sato Masterson Tucker

I gotta explain this one. I know how insane it sounds.

See, the Lafa System is psionically charged. It has to do with all of the callidium, it's found in the rocks and the soil and the food, and even in the people. You can't read minds or levitate or anything like that, but what you can do is almost as cool. I bet you already know this, Kevin, but I'll tell you anyway. You can contact the other side of the pond, a kind of mirror universe.

A lot of people have counterparts there, a lot of Calafans do. But none of us kids do. Dad is actually from there. It's complicated, how the Calafans got him here, but they did. I don't have a counterpart there, and Takara doesn't have one here, either.

She's beautiful and graceful, not like me. She's the Empress Hoshi Sato's daughter, with Chip Masterson, a guy who worked with our Mom and is kinda goofy here. Hard to believe an empress would choose him as one of her baby daddies. I say one, as there were five baby daddies and six kids – Takara has a twin brother, Takeo.

The psionic contact is only in dreams. I first saw Takara when I was a toddler; so was she. Her father, and her father's honey, who became his wife – Lucy Stone – they somehow got the twins out and escaped the empress. Because she's a tyrant, Empress Hoshi is. So Chip and Lucy, with the kids, went into exile, on Lafa II. They're there with some other escapees. Everybody keeps it on the QT. That universe's Calafans go along with it because they hate the empress. But that family is still barely a step or two up from being homeless.

When she was little, Takara had no shoes and they lived in a cave, as poachers. A fine life for an heir to the throne, eh? But that was how things were. Chip and Lucy had a son together, Kenneth. Some of the other people, the Tuckers, they had a son and a daughter. Barely this side of incest – certainly not great for the human gene pool – Ken ended up with Betsy Tucker. And Takara ended up with Charlie Tucker IV. They had a son together, who ended up – now, this really _is_ incest, at least I think it is – but Chuck Tucker V ended up with Ken and Betsy's daughter, Denise Masterson. Their kid, Charles Tucker VI, is currently in line for the throne of the Terran Empire. Wacky, huh?

But back to Takara, _Takara_. Nothing killed me like when I knew she was marrying Charlie. Not even when she had Chuck. I never loved anyone, ever. Takara comes the closest, I think, Kevin. But she was there, and I am and was here, and I could never have her, not really. Dreams are nice, but it was never in person and never seemed to feel really _real_.


	5. Chapter 5 - Lili O'Day Beckett Reed

Lili O'Day Beckett Reed

I told you our Dad was married, right? He was married to Lili, and she was a third mother to all of us. She was all pale, like barely there tracing paper. She could cook. Man oh man, could she cook! She was kind of an Earth mother; she would send you home with a container of soup or a loaf of homemade bread, whatever she had on hand. I sometimes think she got her leftovers out of her house whenever we came to visit.

She had a daughter, Marie Patrice, but Empy was never really like Lili. Empy was always the difficult sister, even grown up. But Lili, yeah, I remember Lili. I recall her singing to me when I was little, it was an old Spanish song she knew called _Arroz con Leche_.

It's hot in here, Kevin. That fireball; it's coming closer. Makes me think of Lili's old stove. Joss and Jia own that house now, and that stove, of course.

Lili lost her own parents in flames when she was nine. She became a chef in order to become a master of fire and gain the upper hand. She had the chance to do that. I don't. But that's all right. Like I said before, the old man would – maybe he _will_ – give me my due for saving others by getting that fire door closed. See, the ship that attacked us; it was advanced. People think it was from the future. I dunno. The guy at the helm was maybe Romulan, but who knows?

But back to Lili; you don't wanna hear about Tactical stuff, I'm sure.

Our mother and Lili were both distraught when Dad died, but Lili had the worst of it. But one day, she just kinda, I can't really say that she recovered. But somehow, one day, she was able to go on. Something turned over in her head and she was kinda okay. She married her lover, Malcolm Reed, who we called Mackum when we were kids. Told ya it was a complex open marriage they had. But that all ended with Dad's death. Lili's marriage to Malcolm was exclusive, and he treated her like a queen. Doug, I think, they were maybe more equal and could joke around. With Malcolm, though, it sometimes seemed like he put her on a pedestal. But she was older – we all were, of course – and maybe that idea made her more comfortable then. I dunno.

I still remember how Lili's empanadas smelled and tasted. Neil makes them now, but they're not quite the same. I can't describe how they're different; they just _are_.

I can see people behind you, Kevin, gathering around. It's, it's like a bridge, I think. I guess we all see one. I bet my nanoseconds are getting shorter. If Lili's in this group, I hope I can ask her about her empanadas.


	6. Chapter 6 - Erika Hernandez

Erika Hernandez

Erika was my boss for, seemingly, forever, until I started working for Captain Robau. And now he's a casualty, and all that. But I digress. I haven't exactly got too much more digression time, eh, Kevin?

Erika was captain of the second Warp Five ship, and her ship made First Contact with our allies, the Daranaeans when I was just a kid, and she was just, all around, a great boss. I always wanted to please her, to give her my all. She took more time with me, too, and I sometimes wonder if Dad had anything to do with that.

See, Dad's origins are technically classified; he changed his name and everything. For the Calafans, who know about the other side of the pond and visit it pretty much every day or night, the idea of hiding such a thing must seem strange, like a weird form of overkill. But whatever. When Dad was brought over, it became obvious pretty quickly that, while he really loved Lili, he also didn't always know his own strength. Without even meaning to, he hurt her, and Malcolm, I think he would've killed Doug with his bare hands if Lili had died. But thank God she didn't.

So Doug must've seemed like a super soldier to Lili's commanding officer, Jonathan Archer. Plus Doug was counterpart to the deceased MACO Major, Jay Hayes. I guess it was thought to be too confusing, and maybe too much of a security risk of some sort. After all, which hostile and aggressive alien government _wouldn't_ want super soldier Doug? They'd have run him into the ground, slurped up all of his DNA and dissected him, I suspect. So I know there's, somewhere, a rather thick file in Starfleet's classified section, about our father.

I'm the only one of the kids who went into Starfleet, and so I imagine Erika was given a peek at, well, at least part of that file. I'm definitely stronger than many of my fellow soldiers, and even now, at age seventy-three. I still run faster than a lot of them, but nobody can outrun a fireball like this. No one.

But Erika, she always cut me slack when I needed it. I think she knew that if I got angry, I could be really damaging. She made sure to channel that anger. Despite the fact that Dad retired the Captain of his MACO unit, I didn't think I was cut out for a commission when I was younger. But _she_ saw it. Erika _believed_ in me. I never woulda made Lieutenant Commander without her.

That is getting to be one _serious_ crowd on that bridge, Kevin. It's gotta be some mistake, some clerical error or something. They can't possibly _all_ be for me.


	7. Chapter 7 - Winona Kirk

Winona Kirk

My nanoseconds are winding down. My lungs feel hot. It's hard to breathe at all. That damned fireball is greedily sucking up all of the oxygen in this sealed room. It's a tossup as to how it'll kill me. Smoke inhalation? Burns? Suffocation? I shouldn't joke, but you're talking to a guy with few options _but_ to joke, Kevin. You know I was never a praying man, not like Declan, who converted to Judaism to marry Rebecca.

I don't really know Mrs. Kirk. We met briefly a few times. I knew she was pregnant; I'd see her in the _Kelvin_ 's corridors sometimes. She's gotten really big, and seems to be so uncomfortable.

We were attacked; the captain of the enemy ship was apparently a mad Romulan; I gotta believe that now. I dunno what he threw at us, but we had no way to counter it. And so Captain Robau is dead and Mrs. Kirk's husband, George, is in command, and he has been for, what, fourteen minutes? Something like that.

I saw her, you see. She must be in labor, because she was screaming her head off when I saw her, being taken on a gurney, headed for the closest medical shuttle. It's Number 37, I think. No matter, long as they get there.

I saw her, and I saw that fireball, and I hit the controls to shut the fire door and seal this room. This is what I did. As if anyone surviving will remember, Kevin. I guess I saved her life, and that of her kid. She'll never know. And George, I bet he's gonna go down with the ship, too. The _Kelvin_ is, now, a ship of death.

There's an eerie quiet, even though I know that fireball is coming, and it's almost here. Tongues of flame are almost upon me, and I know they must be crackling and sizzling and popping like some sort of demented barbecue. Can you people hear it? _Can you?_ Because maybe in my last nanoseconds, maybe I'm deaf. Maybe that's a blessing, to be spared the sounds, although not the sights, of the end. I dunno.

I have enough air for one last word, as this whole conversation has been going on in my head, lo these many nanoseconds. One word, one name. The name of the one woman of these seven, the one who meant the most. Our mothers, my boss, my honeys, my boss's wife, all of them made the cut, but this name, this is my _final_ cut, I suppose. I said I had never loved anyone. I dunno, maybe I did. Maybe I always have, Kevin.

Here come the flames.

" _Takara."_


End file.
